Chapter Text
Chapter Five: Jewelry
A few weeks later Jakob was making his way home from the workshop and humming a little tune while he walked. His new coat, though still poorly fitted, was very warm. Trudging through the snow was also nowhere near as miserable as it had been at the beginning of winter, as he'd just gotten his boots repaired. Over the last couple days he'd also had time to work on a small side project, which he was very pleased about. He'd just finished it and was carrying it home under his arm. When he arrived at the cabin, he brushed the snow off his coat and stomped his feet, then went inside.
When Jakob stepped through the threshold and saw Jade, he froze and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He dropped the little contraption and it tumbled to the floor with a bang. The noise startled Jade and she almost slipped off of the chair she was standing on. She had pushed it to the wall under where Claire's necklace had been hanging... and she was holding the necklace, the jade pendant shining in the light coming in the window. Jakob gulped as he stared and his heart pounded in his ears.
"Sorry Jakob," she said sheepishly. "Just looking. It pretty..."
At first Jakob just stared, then he slowly took a step, and then out of nowhere he lunged forward.
"Give that back, you little thief!" He snarled, reaching for Jade and the necklace.
"Not thief!" Jade squealed as she dodged, leaping off the chair and ducking under the dining table.
Jakob looked under the table and when he saw Jade he reached for her again, but she ran out the other side. In his pursuit, Jakob shoved the table aside instead of going around it and continued to gave chase, his long strides covering distance quickly, and in the small room he quickly had Jade cornered.
Seeing that she was trapped, Jade crouched down and covered her head with one arm while holding the necklace out with the other.
"Not thief, not thief, not thief, not thief," she whimpered.
Jakob approached Jade and as he stood over her cowering form he hesitated. He glanced between the terrified, tiny woman, to the necklace in her outstretched hand, and then back at her. He slowly stepped forward, his heavy breathing slow and shaky as he snatched the necklace. Jakob inspected it, then staggered back to its hook and hung it they way it had been for years. He stood back and stared at it for a moment, then reached out and adjusted it. He stared at it again, and still unsatisfied he desperately adjusted it once more. After another long moment staring at the hanging jewelry he scrunched his eyes and heaved a sob. He ripped it off the wall and threw it into a nearby drawer, slamming it shut. His breath came in shallow gasps as he slid to the floor with his back to the wall. He pulled his knees to his chest and buried his face in his hands with tears streaming down his face.
For a long while Jade just remained crouched in the corner. Not moving, hardly daring to breathe, and eyes locked on Jakob while he sobbed. When he didn't move she slowly stood up. Jakob didn't react. She looked at the door, then the fogged glass on the window, and then back at Jakob. Taking a deep breath, she took a step toward him. When he still didn't move she took another step, then another, and another until she was much closer, but still several paces away. After a few more minutes Jakob stopped crying.
"Jakob..." Jade said softly, tentatively.
Jakob looked up, startled.
"You... you're still here..." he whispered hoarsely. "I was sure you'd have run off."
"Jakob... chase jade," Jade said slowly, looking like she was ready to run.
"I'm sorry." Jakob looked away and at the floor. "I shouldn't have."
"Jakob chase again?" Jade asked cautiously.
"No." Jakob shook his head. "I will never chase you again. I promise... I just saw you with that necklace and I... I lost it... but I know you didn't mean any harm."
"Necklace special?"
"Yes. Very special. It belonged to Claire. She was killed in an orc raid four summers ago. I just couldn't move it from where she..." Jakob's breath hitched. "From where she left it." Jakob straightened his knees to sit flat on the floor. Jade came closer and sat next to him.
"Who Claire? I see name in books."
"She was my best friend, ever since we were kids. The books were hers." Jakob sighed. "She loved to read. She was also the town schoolteacher. If it wasn't for her stubborn insistence and tutoring when we were kids, I don't know I would have managed to learn to read at all!" He chuckled weakly. "Smart girl... brilliant woman." For a moment Jakob just stared, then tears welled up in his eyes and his jaw started trembling again. "And then I fell in love with her, and her with me... the day she became my wife was the proudest and happiest day of my life." He wiped his eyes and took a breath. "That necklace was the first gift I gave her after we started seeing each other. She wore it at our wedding..." For a minute the two of them just sat with each other in silence.
"Claire special... but what wife?" Jade finally asked.
"Huh?" Jakob grunted. "What do you mean?"
"Claire wife. Jade not know wife."
"Oh..." Jakob sighed. "When two people love each other and publicly promise to spend the rest of their lives together in a ceremony called a wedding, a woman in that arrangement is called a wife. They usually have kids and have a family together."
"Whole life?" Jade whispered, her eyes shooting open.
"Yeah, whole life..." Jakob looked at Jade curiously. "Wait, how do goblins do... family?"
"Goblin mate for season. No little goblin, bad match, get new mate." Jade said matter of factly, but then she looked away. She pulled her knees to her chest and started rocking like she did the day at the waterfall. "Six seasons, six mates. No little goblin." Jade gulped and closed her eyes. "Seven season, Jade no mate..." she whispered. "Not wanted. Worthless... Jade leave."
"I thought it was probably something like that... but damn. I'm really sorry, Jade."
"Thanks, Jakob. Jade sorry for Claire... and sorry touch necklace..." Jade sighed.
"Apology accepted." Jakob let his head flop against the wall with a thud. "Aren't we a pair," he said with a wry chuckle.
The two of them sat quietly for some time with the only sounds being their breathing and the crackle of the fire.
"J-Jade not read Claire books," Jade eventually said softly.
"What?" Jakob looked over at her. She was turned away and a tear was falling down her cheek.
"Claire books. Jade not read...not hurt Jakob again." Jade sniffed.
"I appreciate the offer, but no," Jakob said, shaking his head. "She wouldn't want that. You read any books you find. Hell, read all of them, if you want." Jade slowly looked back and Jakob gave her an encouraging smile.
"Jade... still read?"
"Yeah, I think you should. I know Claire would rather them be read than rot away in a dusty trunk."
Jade let go of her knees and sat with her legs flat on the floor.
"Thanks, Jakob." Jade sighed again, this time in relief. She let her knees down and sat with her legs flat on the floor.
"You're welcome, but I think you really should thank Claire for loving to read as much as she did."
For a while the two of them sat in a silence that was just a little more comfortable than before, but eventually Jade noticed the object that Jakob had dropped when he'd first walked in.
"Jakob?" She said, getting his attention then pointing toward the wooden item by the door.
"Oh, I completely forgot about that." Jakob groaned as he stood up off the hard floor. "Come on, it's for you."
"For Jade?" She also got up and followed Jakob to the doorway.
Jakob picked up the item and gave it a quick inspection.
"Well, it got a little scuffed, but it seems fine." He held it out, showing it to Jade. "It's a chair... sort of... I guess it's more of a seat, really. You can either put it on the floor..." he put it down and gestured to it, inviting Jade to sit. The whole thing looked like a chair perched on a raised platform. The platform was wider than a regular chair, and much wider than anything Jade would ever need. However, it had couple of rails that sat pretty far from the outside edges that would work as armrests
Jade sat down in the strange looking seat.
"Comfortable?" Jakob asked.
"Jade not know 'comfortable,'" she replied with a shrug.
"Ah..." Jakob thought for a moment then got into his own chair and exaggerated nestling into it. "Comfortable." He looked back over at Jade who had leaned into the seat back.
"Yes. Comfortable." She looked at the wide platform curiously, knocked on it once to call attention to it, then looked at Jakob expectantly.
"If you get up I can show you what that's for," Jakob said, getting up, and when Jade also stood he picked up the 'seat.' He went over to one of the dining room chairs and pulled it away from the table. He then fitted the platform to it in a way that hooked on the front of the chair and secured the back with a leather strap and buckle. "There you go. Now you can sit at the table," Jakob said and Jade gasped. "Do you want help getting up, or do you want to do it yourself?"
"Jade get.” She approached the modified chair after staring at it for a moment. Climbing onto it was a little awkward, but manageable, and in a few seconds Jade was sitting in the seat.
"There you go!" Jakob slid the chair to the table with Jade on it. When he saw that it put her at just the right height he took his seat opposite her. "Yeah, that's much better than a mop bucket!"
"Thanks, Jakob," Jade said quietly, gingerly putting her hands on the table's surface. She looked back up at Jakob with a small smile. "Where Jakob get?"
"I didn't get it, I made it," Jakob replied with a chuckle.
"Jakob make!?" Jade's green eyes shot open.
"Yeah, I'm a carpenter."
"Carpenter?"
"Woodworker. I make things out of wood. You've been here for over two months and I never told you that?"
"No," Jade said, shaking her head. "Jakob make wood when leave?"
"I make things out of wood, but that's close enough. When we don't have to worry about your feet freezing I can take you to my workshop, if you want."
"Workshop far?" Jade asked, looking at her bare feet.
"Far enough that you'd get frostbite."
"Hmph," Jade grunted. "Ground cold. Outhouse already too far..." Jade wiggled her toes, making Jakob chuckle.
"I'd get you some boots, but I'm not sure having people ask why I'm buying child sized footwear is a good idea."
Jade looked at him curiously, then over to where her coat was hanging.
"Jakob got coat?"
"Yeah, but that came from Erik. I've known him for years. The cobbler, shoemaker, is kind of new in town."
"Hmm..." Jade grunted, then sighed. "Workshop when warmer?"
"Workshop when warmer," Jakob echoed with a grin. "But right now I'm getting hungry. I'm gonna make some food." He got up and headed to the counter, but stopped when he glanced at the hook that the necklace had been hanging on. He stared at the vacant wall space for a moment and blinked back a couple of tears.
"Jakob..." Jade said quietly, getting his attention. "Jade sorry..."
"I know. But it's not your fault." Jakob kept staring for several minutes, but eventually he sighed and turned to the kitchen counter to start preparing dinner.